Recommendation – Awareness Campaign

One recommendation that we as a group would like to see implemented is something geared towards young people and the general public that would provide awareness of the age of consent laws. An awareness campaign could be geared towards not only youth but also parents.

A potential way to guarantee awareness to youth could be through sexual education classes in schools if they do not do so already. Having a chance for youth to have an open dialogue about potential risks for breaking laws and further than that to include information about sexual exploitation could aid in reducing the number of instances of harm that could occur through acts such as internet luring, for example.

One thing to keep in mind is that there may be some schools that might not teach sexual education or would not want to discuss age of consent to young people for a variety of reasons. Other methods of awareness must be implemented. If this issue could be attached to another similar issue such as personal safety, healthy relationships etc., then the awareness of age of consent laws could be further communicated.

Other ways that the age of consent laws could be communicated could be through the media in which youth access such as television, internet etc. Getting youth involved in this would also have a greater impact. One example could be a competition in which youth would submit an advertisement addressing age of consent and issues. This could be in partnership with various agencies that address healthy sexuality for youth and a medium which would get the advertisements viewed.

Another way to provide awareness could be a campaign geared towards parents that would address ways parents can talk to their children about this issue along with sex in general. This could also be advertised in avenues such as television, radio and written materials.

These are just a couple of ideas that could get the word out on age of consent laws in Canada. This method would also help to make the laws more accessible and understandable which is one of our main goals.

L.L.